Strangers have become the bane of modern society. We tell our children, “Don’t talk to strangers,” and “Strangers who want us to keep a secret plan to hurt us.”
Yet our economic system is all about selling our goods to strangers. Television personalities come to us as friends and confidants, eager to share their most intimate secrets, if only we buy the products they endorse.
Sometimes strangers are brought together by design, in a gathering of shared interests. Watch the 100,000 people attending a professional sports venue. They cheer together, boo at the same time, and slap each other on the back at a successful score. Yet, how many of them know each other? Not more than a handful in any section. At the same time they feel bonded with each person in the stands, one, because of something shared.
Peter, the apostle of Jesus, felt the same. In his first epistle, Chapter 1, Verse 1, he tells us:
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…”
Peter, whose name means “Rock,” didn’t know the people he wrote to. They were strangers. However, they had something in common. They shared a faith in the man we know as Jesus.
Peter wrote to these strangers of things that were important to him. He shared his call to thanksgiving, faith, joy, holy living, redemption, and the cross. That’s just in the first chapter. He goes on to reveal much, much more about his convictions in relation to his walk with Christ. Over the course of two letters, Peter lays himself bare to complete strangers, all because of their common bond.
How much do we share with the people we regularly attend church with? Do we give out a “Good morning,” a hand shake, and maybe a twenty in the offering plate; and as far as the rest, we say, “It’s none of your business,” as we go our way?
The people in our church shouldn’t be strangers. They should be our friends and confidants, and we should be eager to share our most intimate secrets. After all, we share the most important thing of all: new life in Christ, through our faith in him.
We should be like Peter, rocking with strangers, all the way to our heavenly home.
When people share our belief in Christ, they are no longer strangers, but intimate friends through Jesus our Lord.
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Code: FGO.I.20.15f.vp.kjv